Keeping Strong
by Justadream940
Summary: This is a sequel to Home is Where the Heart is. This follows Rick, Daryl and the group as they find themselves at a farm. Will they find happiness here or will the revelations made destroy them? Will they be able to bring the group back together?
1. Chapter 1

**Notes: **So this is a sequel to my other story Home is where the heart is, if you haven't read that story I would advise you to first otherwise some parts won't make sense. This story will coincide with season 2 of the Walking Dead with some changes made, but be warned there will also be a lot of spoilers! Anyway hope you like the story and how I've changed it.

Chapter One:

They had been driving all day in relative silence, no one really knowing what to say but what could they say? They have just driven away from the first place they thought they might have been able to call home because it blew up with one of their people deciding to stay behind; there were no words for that kind of thing. So now they were heading for Fort Bene, Shane had finally got his way so they were making the 125 mile journey hoping there might be somewhere for them there. Rick looked over at his partner to see him staring out of the window resting his elbow on the window with his head lying on hand. He reached over and grasped Daryl's other hand in his and gave it a squeeze, causing Daryl to look over at him with a faint smile on his face.

Up the road they noticed Merle had come to a stop on his motorbike, looking round they noticed there was a traffic jam of unused cars. Slowly they crept through them looking out for signs of walkers and trying not to think about what caused all of these cars to be abandoned. A loud bang echoed through the silence and the RV in front of them came to a halt.

"Damn it" Rick muttered exiting the car to see what the problem is already guessing that it was the RV breaking down.

After a discussion everyone decided on looking through the cars for more supplies while Dale and Glenn fixed the RV, after all these cars were going to full of other peoples survival gear so they might as well put it all to good use right? Trying not to study the corpses to much everybody started to rummage through the cars picking up food, drink, clothes and the odd weapon.

Working their way through the cars things were looking up, they now had a nice stash of supplies and enough fuel to be able to turn around and try the other route that Glenn had found that should be clearer. Looking further down the road Rick knew it had been too good to be true, he had noticed a massive group of walkers coming straight towards them.

"Oh Christ"

Running back towards the group Rick whispered for everyone to get down under the cars whilst pulling Lori and Carl down with him. Rick prayed Daryl and T-Dog where okay as he had yet to spot them but knew they should be able to look after themselves. He held his breath as he heard to scuffling of walkers walk past them and prayed they just kept on walking. He suddenly realised Merle wasn't with them either but the stupid bugger was crafty enough to stay out of harm's way anyway, he was probably enjoying this knowing Merle.

It felt like an eternity before the scuffling seemed to finally fade out, leaving it a minute to be safe he slowly creep out from the car. As he did this a scream broke out that seemed a lot like Sophia's, looking round he noticed Sophia running down the bank into the trees being followed by two walkers close behind her.

"My baby, she's being chased by two walkers" Carol cried out desperately trying to get out of Lori's grip. Knowing what he had to do Rick climbed down the bank to save Sophia from the walkers, spotting the walkers he headed in the same direction.

Rushing through the tree's Rick had his eyes glued on Sophia waiting for the right time to intercept her to get her to safety. Finding his moment he grabbed Sophia round the waist and pulled her into his arms.

"Shhh Shhh, are you okay?" he whispered trying to quieten Sophia so that the walkers wouldn't hear them.

"Shoot them, you gotta shoot them" Sophia cried frantically trying to grab Ricks gun.

"I can't those walkers on the road would hear it and then it wouldn't just be two of 'em"

Rick picked up Sophia and ran away from the walkers keeping an eye out for a place to hide Sophia; he couldn't kill the walkers and look after her as he couldn't risk using his gun. Spotting a stream with bushes all around Rick knew he had found the perfect spot.

"Alright, listen Sophia you have to do exactly as I say, hide in there and squeeze in tight. I'll draw them away from you"

"No no don't leave me"

"Listen listen, I need to draw them away from you, I can't do that if I'm looking after you. This is how we both survive, you understand?" Rick asked desperate for Sophia to understand that he had to do this; it was the only way he could save the girl. Seeing Sophia nod in response he hugged her trying to calm her down a bit before nudging her to go and hide.

"If I don't make it back head to the highway to the others, go back the way we came, keep the sun on your left shoulder"

Hearing the walkers approach them Rick turned away from Sophia and starting splashing the water in front of him, distracting them from Sophia.

"Come on. You ugly son of a bitch" Rick growled at the walkers, slowly edging backwards hoping the walkers follow him.

"Come on. Come on"

Running through the woods whilst calling out to them Rick ran deeper and deeper into the trees away from Sophia. He prayed she was alright and managed to remember what he said, she was rather distressed and he was worried what he said wouldn't have sunk in. Pushing those thoughts to the back of his head he picked up the stone he found on the ground, perfect, the stone was just what he needed to kill the ugly beasts. Waiting until the walker was right in front of him he lifted the stone above his head before bringing it back down onto the walkers head with as much force as possible. A sickening crunch was heard and the walker fell to the ground with a strangled cry before lying motionless on the ground. One down, one to go. Picking the rock back up Rick looked around for the other walker knowing it had to be somewhere close. Hearing shuffling in the trees nearby Rick headed in that direction and came across the other walker. Once he had the walker in his sights Rick charged at the walker and threw the stone at the walkers head before the walker had a chance to do anything.

…

Merle had been in the woods smoking, completely oblivious to what had been going on the highway. In was nice to be out in the woods in the relative silence and solitude, he didn't get that much anymore being in a big group which he wasn't used to. He was used to it being just him and his brother, well his brother not so much nowadays but he didn't mind that, Rick was a nice guy despite the fact he teased him a lot. This just meant Merle was always looking for time alone, he may constantly make jabs at people and seem like a jerk but that was only because he was afraid of getting close to people as in the past that had only caused pain. Their dad didn't exactly give a good example of people, meaning Merle never let anyone get close, it was safer that way.

He was leant up against a tree when he heard it, someone running through the tree's sounding scared. Looking round he spotted Sophia running towards him constantly looking over her shoulder and whimpering.

"Whoa hey Sophia, what's up, what ya doin' out here?" he asked concerned, shouldn't she be with her mum?

"Walkers, we gotta run, there's four of them" Sophia cried her eyes darting around everywhere before grabbing his hand and tried to pull him along.

"Whoa hold on little girl, where's your mum shouldn't you be with her?"

"There all still on the highway, I lost them running away from walkers. Rick went off to kill the walkers, told me to go to the highway but more walkers came" Sophia replied bursting into tears.

"Hey come on, let's go find your mum" Picking up the frantic girl Merle started to head back the highway when he heard the groans. Those must have been the walkers she was talking about.

"Crap" Merle muttered causing Sophia to whimper in his arms. She hadn't been lying there must be about five of them. Turning around Merle started to run away from, knowing there was too many of them to deal with when all he had was a gun with two bullets in.

Trying to find a way back to the highway whilst outrunning the walkers Merle didn't spot the big tree root ahead of him, causing him to trip and fall to the ground with Sophia still in his arms.

"Ahhh, Sophia you okay?" he asked worried he had hurt her.

"Yeah I'm okay"

Standing up Merle nearly fell back down again when he put pressure on his right foot. Realising he must have badly twisted his ankle he limped forward. Damn it, he wasn't going to get anywhere fast now. Grabbing Sophia's hand he pulled her along determined to keep going despite the throbbing pain in his ankle.

"Merle their back" Sophia whispered pointing towards where they had come from. Turing around the noticed the five walkers were still on his trail.

"Shit, come on girl we gotta get back to the highway, we must be nearly there" he said trying to convince Sophia to keep going- and himself.

"Their getting closer"

"Keep going, come on" Merle started to run, however the pain was too much and leg buckled causing him to fall to the ground.

"Merle stand up, please, there getting closer" Sophia cried grabbing his hand to help him up.

Standing up Merle noticed the walkers were only a few steps away from them. He knew they weren't going to be able to outrun them now; he was going to have to try and kill them.

"Sophia hide behind that tree, now!" he shouted at Sophia who did exactly as he said. As the walkers got closer he looked around trying to find something he could use a weapon, and found nothing. Panicking a bit and pulled his gun out, he only had two bullets left so he was going to have to make them count. One of the walkers flung his arms out at him and tried grab him arm so Merle grabbed them by the neck and shoved it to the ground. What he didn't notice was, was that a walker had snuck up behind and was about to take a chunk out of his shoulder.

"MERLE!"

Turning around Merle came face to face with a walker who was lunging towards him, millimetres away from his neck. A series of bangs suddenly echoed through the woods and all the walkers fell to ground. Merle stood there in shock as he watched the walker who was about to eat him alive fall to the ground with a bullet in it's head.

"You okay there lad, you get bit or scratched?" A voice asked causing Merle to turn around to face his saviour.

"Umm thanks, nah ya got me jus' in time?" Merle replied a bit perplexed, he wasn't used to people saving him he usually had to save himself.

"You're welcome, people call me the governor"

**Notes: **so that's the first chapter of my sequel, I hope you enjoyed it and liked my twist to the story.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

"You sure this is the spot?"

"I left her right here; I drew the walkers away in that direction, up the creek. She was gone by the time I got back here, I figured she jus' took off and went back to the group." Rick paced around in the water with Daryl thinking back to when he left Sophia here, wondering where she could have gone.

"I told her to head back in that direction and to keep the sun on her left shoulder" Rick reiterated, determined to prove he had done all he could to keep Sophia safe.

"Assuming she knew her left from her right" Shane retorted causing Rick to glare at him.

"Shane she understood me fine"

"Kids tired and scared man, she had her close call, two walkers, gotta wonder how much o' what you said stuck" Shanes words were not helping Rick feel any better about the situation, was he trying to blame Rick for what happened?

"Got clear prints right here, she did what you said, headed back to the highway" Rick looked over at Daryl to see him looking at the tracks and he smiled. Daryl was proving Shane wrong, Sophia had understood his words fine, she was probably back there now safe in her mother's arms. Daryl gave Rick a reassuring smile, probably knowing the thoughts going round in his head.

"Let's spread out" Daryl said slinging his crossbow over his shoulder already following Sophia's tracks.

"Let's go she can't of got far" Rick already following Daryl, hoping he was going to find Sophia safe.

Everyone started to follow Daryl, no one really knowing what they were looking for except for Daryl. Even after all these years of being with Daryl the ground still just looked like a bunch of messed up leaves and sticks.

"She was doin' fine up until here" Daryl crouched down to look at the tracks better. "All she had to do was keep goin'" Rick filled with dread, Sophia had been so close to home and something had made her disappear. "She veered off that way" Daryl added pointing back down deeper into the trees.

"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked confused.

"Maybe she saw summin' that spooked her?" Shane replied helpfully

"Walker" Glenn blurted out with wide eyes looking at Rick worryingly.

"Nah there's no other foot prints, just hers" Daryl replied still studying the ground trying to look for more clues that would help them find out why Sophia veered off course.

"Okay Shane, Glenn you guys go back to the group, tell 'em what's going on, people are gonna start panicking, tell 'em we're doing everything we can, but most of all keep 'em calm." He was not giving up on Sophia yet.

"I'll get 'em moving cars and other chores that'll keep 'em occupied" Shane replied gruffly, clearly not happy being told to leave, but he was getting on Ricks nerves, he needed some space.

Once Glenn and Shane have left Rick turned round to Daryl who's still studying the area. "Do you think it's my fault?"

"What?" Daryl turns round to look at Rick, confusion written all over his face.

"Do you think it's my fault Sophia's missing?"

"Course not, you told her clearly what ta do 'nd she followed 'em fine till now, somethin' else caused her to veer off, probably heard summin'" Daryl replied walking over to Rick and pulled him into a tight embrace. Rick sank into the embrace and placed his head into the crook of Daryl's neck trying to get as much contact as possible. Eventually Daryl pulled back and placed Ricks head into his heads forcing Rick to look at him.

"'s not your fault 'kay, nah matter what Shane says, I got the evidence ta prove it okay, 's get ya head back in it, 'nd lets go find her 'kay?" Daryl says sternly, all Rick can is nod and is rewarded with a smile and a peck on the lips.

With Daryl in the lead they follow the tracks deeper into the woods. The sun light was getting less and Rick knew that soon they were both going to have to turn around soon and prayed they got some more answers before that time came. He was dreading having to Carol that all they knew was that Sophia ran off further into the woods, that was not going to give the mother any comfort.

"Shit" Daryl muttered walking over to some trees.

"What?"

"Think I know why she ran off"

"Why?" Rick asked already dreading the answer.

"Looks like there was more walkers in the woods, 'bout five of 'em by the looks of it" Daryl replied studying the ground by the trees.

"Looks like Sophia was running away from 'em, she kept goin' that way" Daryl stated pointing up towards the left.

"She's still trying to the highway, not going to deep" Rick replied, hope filling in his chest, perhaps she's just further along the highway. Then a thought came to him, she better not have come across the heard, and dread filled him again.

They carried further along following the tracks which Rick could now kind of see as the ground had more defined marks were the walkers had shuffled along the ground. Daryl suddenly stopped in his tracks and seemed to just be looking around in confusion.

"Daryl?"

"There's another pair of tracks, they came from that direction" Daryl pointed up towards the highway.

"You sayin' someone already found her and taken her back?"

"No they go head off that way" he replied pointing back down, further into the trees"

"So someone's taken her?" Rick asked trying to process what Daryl was saying.

"Dunno, she's at least come across someone and they've both run off away from the walkers"

"Shit, well we can't stay out here any longer, hopefully Sophia's safe with whoever she ran into, we need to head back to the highway maybe we can then work out who she's with"

"Yeah 'kay" Daryl muttered clearly not wanting to leave the search but knows they can't stay out when it gets dark as tracking would be hopeless.

….

"So you're telling me you've left my baby out in the woods with Merle of all people" Carol cried out horrified at thought.

"Merle might seem like an ass most of the time but he wouldn't leave Sophia by herself against walkers, he would help, look after her" Daryl replied determined to stick up for his brother.

"Merle's a racist criminal, how are we supposed to trust him with a child" Shane replied, seemingly determined to stir things up.

"He's been fine with me" Carl piped up quietly causing Daryl to smile and ruffle the kid's hair.

"Like Carl said, he's fine with kids, he looks out for 'em, looked after me when we were kids cause me dad was a useless pr-"he looks down at Carl "parent" he finishes lamely.

"My baby's out in the dark being chased by walkers and now has Merle looking after her" Carol mutters to herself, not seeming any less worried than she was before.

"Look I know Merle may not seem like it but he can be carin', trust me when I say he'll get your baby back here in one piece, or at least look after her for ya" Daryl said walking over to Carol desperate to give her some kind of comfort.

"But Merle-"

"Merle looked after me when we were kids, ma dad liked beatin' us up and whenever Merle was home he would always step in the way and let ma dad beat 'im up stead of me. He seems like an ass but that's just a cover, a way of coping" Daryl told Carol, he hated bringing up his childhood but he knew it was the only way for Carol to understood Merle wasn't as bad as he seemed.

"So he'll look after my baby?" Carol asked weakly, finally looking like she might trust Merle.

"He will"

…

After looking in the tent and realising Merle and Sophia weren't in there everybody stood in silence, they had all got their hopes up in thinking they had just camped out in the tent for the night. Rick came up by the side of Daryl and put his arm around Daryl's waist and pulled him in to a hug.

"We'll find 'em"

"I know 'es a tough son a bitch, jus' hope Sophia's okay I know Merle can seem intimidatin' but 'e wouldn' hurt her"

"I know"

While they were all stood around wondering where to look next church bells rang through the forest causing everyone to look round at each other, and then run off towards the sound of the bells.

"That can't be it there's no steeple or bells" Shane comments when they come across a church. Rick ignores the comment and just runs towards hoping to prove Shane wrong.

Opening the door all they find is a few walkers sat in the pews which Shane, Rick and Daryl quickly take out.

"I'm telling ya Rick it's the wrong church, there aint no steeple" Shane shouts out.

"Sophia" Daryl calls out hoping that she was just hiding somewhere in the church waiting for them to come and get here. When they don't hear anything everyone's hope fades a little bit. At that moment they hear the bells ring again and everyone rushes back outside. Rounding the corner they see Amy flicking the switch on some speakers and the noise dies.

"It was on timer" she says quietly looking dejected knowing that it probably means they are back to square one of finding the rest of their group.

…

"I wanna stay to, to help Uncle Rick and Shane, she was my friend" Carl pipes up after Shane explained how the group was going to split up, Rick and Shane hang back while Daryl takes the rest of the group back to the highway.

"Jus' be careful okay" Lori replies giving her son a brief hug before letting him go.

"I will"

"When did you get all grown up" giving her son a ruffle of the hair, Rick then pulls her into a hug. Rick then goes over to Daryl and pulls him into a hug and kisses him on the lips.

"Look after yourself and keep 'em safe for me"

"Ya know I will"

After saying their good byes the two groups head off into their different directions. Rick, Shane and Carl head out further into the woods when they hear something moving in the tree's up ahead. They all stop to watch to see whether it was walker or not. It turns out to only be a deer that has yet to actually notice the three of them. Rick notices Shane line his gun up to shoot it, but also notices Carl head towards the deer.

"Shane" Rick whispers and nods his head towards Carl letting Shane know Carl wanted to get closer. Shane nods his head in understanding and watches Carl creep closer.

Half way towards the deer the deer still had yet to notice them, up until Carl snapped a twig under his foot. The deer looked up in shock but surprisingly didn't run off; it just stood there and let Carl get closer. Carl looked back at Rick and Shane with a massive grin on his face, he looked so happy and Rick was glad that even in an apocalypse they were still aloud these little moments of happiness. Carl reached his hand to see if the deer would get any closer, maybe even touch it; the deer looked at the hand as if debating its next movement.

BANG!

Rick watched in horror as both the deer and Carl fell to the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three:

"People call me the Governor" some man said and Sophia peeped her head round the tree to see a man holding out his hand for Merle to shake, however Merle just looked at the hand in disgust and didn't shake it.

"The Governor, what kinda name is that?" Merle chuckled whilst the Governor just looked offended.

"That's the name my towns people gave me"

"Your town's people? What kind of place do you live in?"

"My town is completely surrounded by walls with men guarding the site. You could come with us and you'd be safe from the biters"

"Biters?" Merle asked obviously not knowing what biters were either.

"That's what we call 'em. So you coming with us?" Sophia chose that moment to come out from hiding behind the tree.

"Merle, I want to go find my momma, we can't leave without her" Sophia said quietly clutching onto her doll tightly, close to tears, she leave yet she still had to find her mom.

"Don' worry Sophia goin' nowhere" Merle stated whilst staring at the Governor, giving him the evil eyes.

"You can hardly walk, you'd be safer with us, and you can go find her mom in a day to, when your ankles healed" the Governor replied staring back at Merle, neither one backing down.

"I'll be fine, it aint like I aint used to an injury or to, 'sides if we go with you we'll never find 'er mom, or ma brother for that matter" Sophia smiled knowing that if Merle wanted to find their original group as well then Sophia was definitely going to see her momma again soon.

"You sure? How you going to fend off the biters when you can hardly walk? Come on its not fair on the girl, she needs to be somewhere safe and that's with us"

"I need to find my mum" Sophia said with a sudden spurt of courage. She didn't like how this man was trying to make then come with them, he was creepy. She needed her mom, and Merle had saved her, she trusted him. The creepy man chooses that moment to crouch down in front of her.

"I know you do little girl but back in my town we have proper houses, plenty of food and water, and lots of other children that you could play with while we look for you mom. That sounds nice doesn't it?

"I need to find my mom" Sophia whispered back not liking how he was trying to convince her to leave her mom. She couldn't do, her mom was probably worried enough as it was.

"Looks like you're going back empty handed" Merle chuckled whilst stroking Sophia's hair proudly, glad she had been able to stick up for herself, the girl was braver than she looked.

"It'll be suicide" the Governor retorted.

"Look if we say we don' wanna join ya, we don' wanna join ya, ya hear me" Merle growled causing Sophia to get a little, she didn't like it when men got angry, they reminded her of when her daddy got angry and that usually ended up in her mom getting hurt.

"I can't let you travel back, my conscience won't let me, please I must insist you come back with us" the governor replied, Sophia heard something behind them and looked round to see the Governors men where creeping up on them with the guns held at them. Sophia whimpered and tugged on Merle t-shirt. He looked down at her in confusion and she tilted her head to the side indicating to Merle to look behind them. Merle looked behind him and chuckled which confused Sophia, how was that funny, she thought it was more scary than funny.

"Ya must insist ya say, well I must insist that we ought to be getting' ourselves home, let's go Sophia" Merle said way to calmly for Sophia's liking but followed Merle anyway as she wanted to get away from the creepy man.

"I can't let you do that" the governor replied just as calmly as Merle did.

"I think you'll find we can" Merle replied just as one of the Governors men shot at Merle but missed and hit the tree next to him.

"Son of a bitch" Merle grabbed and picked up Sophia and ran as fast as he could with a bad ankle twisting and turning through the trees, obviously trying to lose the Governors men who were bound to be chasing them.

….

After a good ten minutes Merle slowed down and put Sophia on the ground to catch his breath.

"Have we lost them?" Sophia asked quietly.

"I dunno hon' but hopefully if we keep goin' we will 'ave"

"Stay were you are, I don't mean you no harm" A male voice said through the trees and Merle instantly pulled Sophia behind his back.

"Come on lad you really gonna shoot me?" Merle called back just as a man come out from behind the tree.

"If I need to"

"Why's the Governor want to shoot me?" Merle questions holding his own gun at the guy, causing the guy to twitch, obviously not used to using a gun, this caused Merle to smirk.

"I can't tell you sir" The guy replied, a slight tremble in his voice.

"Ya can't tell me 'ay" Merle answered whilst slowly walking closer to the guy till he was only a couple of steps in front of the man.

"Don't come any closer" The guy shouted at Merle trying to sound brave but failing miserably.

"Come on lad I only want to know why the Governor wants me dead, I deserve to know that at least" Merle told the guy while taking the off his gun.

"He-he told me to follow you until I found at were you were stayin' and then-then to kill y-you" the guy trembled.

"Thank you-Sophia close your eyes darlin'" Merle told her and as soon as she had Merle shot the guy in the head just before he could question what Merle had said. Hearing the shot Sophia opened her eyes and gasped, tears welling up in her eyes.

"'m sorry Sophia but he would have told the Governor were we where I couldn' risk 'im findin' your mom and the others, it 'ad to be done" Merle told Sophia softly who nodded in reply, her eyes never leaving the dead body.

"Come on darlin' let's go find your momma" Merle told her and picked her up and felt Sophia wrap her arms round his neck and bury her head in his neck.

…

"Honey I can't imagine what you're going though, it's horrible, but you gotta stop blamin' Rick, I can see it in your face" Lori told Carol who looked down at the ground guiltily. Daryl felt bad for the poor women, he got it, she wanted someone to blame but he wished she hadn't picked Rick. Daryl looked over at Lori and gave her a little smile, glad that she was finally standing up for herself. After the past few relationships she's had she needed to build up her confidence again.

"Once Sophia took off he didn't hesitate did he, he just took off, don' know if any of you'll woulda done that?" Lori questioned looking round at the group. This caused Daryl to look away already feeling guilty, he would like to say he would he really did, but he just didn't know.

"I don't think any of us coulda done it, or made the hard decisions that he's had to make, or done it any differently" Lori pressed on standing up for her brother and Daryl suddenly felt bad that he wasn't standing up for his partner too. He then pushed it aside knowing that the group didn't need two people against them, Lori was doing a fine job by herself. When Lori looked like she had finished her rant Daryl walked over to her and wrapped his arm round her neck and pulled her into a side hug and kissed her forehead.

"thank you, Rick would be'n proud" Daryl whispered to her in a rare show of affection.

"Umm guys we should probably keep moving" Glenn said to the group looking round at everyone nervously, obviously sill uncomfortable about the previous conversation.

"He's right we should get back" Daryl replied whilst standing up.

After walking for a few minutes Amy walked up to Daryl and Lori.

"So you and Rick?" Amy questioned while looking at Daryl with a smirk on her face.

"What about us?" Daryl asked defensively, he was always uncomfortable talking about their relationship. He was a private person and never knew how people were going to take the fact he was in a relationship with another man. It wasn't that he was ashamed but he always tried to avoid a fight if he could help it.

"So how long you been together?" she was still smirking. Of course, she was a young girl, she wanted all the gossip, he never could understand women.

"Since 'bout a year after high school" he replied and he have sworn he heard Lori cough and mutter something about it being longer than that.

"Did you know each other at high school then?" Amy questioned after smirking at Lori who was smirking right back at her.

"Yeah"

"were you friends?"

"Yeah, what's with all the questions girl?" Daryl asked getting annoyed with all the questions, seriously girls never stop.

"Just trying to work how you met, that's all" she replied innocently

"We met in the woods" Daryl replied before inwardly cringing when he realised he had just given the girl more bait.

"Aww how romantic, was it love at first site" The girl fired back, almost bouncing on her toes in eagerness. Daryl just snorted and chucked at the question.

"Err no, not exactly, nearly fired an arrow at the poor sod, he was pretty pissed actually"

"I remember him coming home and telling about how some guy had come out of nowhere holding a crossbow at him and shouting about how he had scared off his dinner" Lori laughed.

"Well he had and he still can't hunt for shit, no matter how many tine I've tried to teach him, he always managed to scare 'em away before we get close enough" Daryl sighed.

"So how did you end up getting together then" Amy asked puzzled.

"After that day we kept bumpin' into each other in the woods an' one day we jus' go' talkin' and became friends. After a while well….." Daryl trailed off while rubbing the back of his neck, uncomfortable with talking any further. Clearly Amy knew what he was going to say anyway.

"So who kissed who?" Amy asked ignoring Daryl's obvious discomfort.

"I aint answerin' that"

"Ah come on pleeeeease, I won't tell anyone else" Amy begged whilst trying to give him the puppy dog eyes. They didn't work on him anymore, not after spending so much time with Carl anyway.

"They don' work on me anymore" Daryl smirked.

"Man your no fun" Amy sighed. All the questions stopped when a gun fire rang out through the tree's causing Daryl to look at Lori with a slight panic on his face.

**Notes: **another chapter done, I had a little fun writing the bit between Daryl and Amy, I could just imagine Daryl cringing at all the questions and not want to give away too much. Anyway hope you enjoyed and let me know what you think.


	4. Chapter 4

Rick didn't know what to do. He had never felt so helpless in his life. Watching Hershel try and save Carl's life made his heart feel like it had sunk to the floor.

Carl could die.

Those three words were haunting his mind causing grief and dread to suffocate him. He didn't know what to do, except berate himself for allowing Carl to get closer to the deer. If only he had just let Shane shoot the deer when he had first wanted to. Maybe then Carl could have been standing next to him now, rather than looking pale and lifeless on the guest bed.

Rick was dreading the moment his sister walks through the door, what was he supposed to say to her? It's his fault Carl's fighting for his life and Shane's now risking his alongside a complete stranger. How is he supposed to look Lori in the face again knowing what he has done, the pain he has caused?

He hates that all he can do now is sit and wait until his blood is needed again, it allows his thoughts to swim around him, taunting him, he really doesn't want to be in his thoughts right now, but it's the only place he can be.

The moment Lori bursts through the door Rick sinks into his chair. Just from the gasp Lori releases he can hear the pain in her voice.

He caused that.

He will never forgive himself for this, if by some miracle Carl makes it through this Rick vows to himself that he will protect Carl with his life. He would voice this to Lori but Rick doesn't think his voice would allow it without it cracking, so he keeps it to himself for now. Instead he slowly raises himself from the chair and brings Lori into a hug giving her physical comfort instead of a verbal one.

Hearing Lori's soft cries as she grips Carl's hand like a lifeline Rick feels like he can't breathe, his guilt is quite literally suffocating him right now, he needs to get out of here.

"I'll be back in a minute" Rick quietly tells Lori and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek. Lori doesn't even seem to have even heard or felt him, too caught up in staring at Carl with such longing and pain that Rick nearly runs out of the room.

Once he reaches the porch Rick leans against the wall and then sinks onto the floor and lets out a cry, no longer able to keep them in. No one would ever be able to forgive him if Carl doesn't survive, he would never be able to forgive himself either. Once he had started he couldn't seem to stop, the tears just kept on rolling down his face. Carl was still young; he had his whole life ahead of him and because of Rick that could be cut a lot shorter than it should have been. Rick just prays that Shane comes back with the medical supplies needed.

Right now Rick wishes Daryl was here with him, Daryl may not be a man of many words but he always seems to know what to do to make things seem better. Although Ricks not even sure if Daryl would even be able to stand looking at Rick once he finds out what he has done, how could he? Upon thinking that thought tears start rapidly falling done his face once again causing Rick to quietly sob.

"Rick?"

Rick slowly lifts his head up from his hands to see Shane standing at the bottom of the porch, concern written all over his face, and holding what looked like a bag full of medical supplies.

"You got the supplies?" Rick asked him cautiously as this was not the time to be getting his hopes up. Shane nodded in reply and Rick couldn't help the small smile that graced his face. Maybe Carl could live. Maybe there was still some good left in this apocalyptic world. That was when Rick suddenly noticed Otis wasn't with Shane, maybe he had already gone inside and he had been to out of it to notice.

"Otis?"

"Didn't make it" However the look on Shane's face said there was more to the story, a story Rick would get out of him sooner rather than later. A story that by the looks of Shane's face Rick wasn't going to like. Right now though they had Carl to try and save.

* * *

Rick could hardly breathe the whole time Hershel was working on Carl. The whole time he was wondering how Carl could possibly survive this, on TV there's normally more than two people working on a patient like this with a lot of medical supplies and big lights. This was just two people, one who I actually a vet not a doctor, with only the basics of supplies. He wasn't going to voice his concerns though because Hershel was all they had, and he was truly grateful that he was trying to save his nephew. If Carl didn't happen to survive then Hershel was going to be the best damn vet he knew.

After Hershel had finished Rick felt like he was suffocating again, he hated all of this waiting around; Daryl was definitely rubbing off on him. Leaving Lori and Shane to look over Carl Rick went outside again to sit in the same spot he had been in before Shane arrived and stared into space. He hated this, hated what life has become now. Is this how it was going to be from now on, running from one danger to another? How would they be able to survive like that?

"Rick?...Rick!"

Rick's jumped in shock as he was suddenly bought out of his daze to see the one face that might makes things a little bit better.

"Daryl" Rick replied bringing the man into a hug causing Daryl to nearly topple over as he was crouched down. Rick buried his head into Daryl's neck not caring what he looked like to the rest of the group he were probably still outside watching them. He needed Daryl right now, he needed to make this moment last before Daryl started to hate him when he realised what had happened.

"Rick you okay?" Daryl asked worriedly pulling Rick away from him slightly so that Rick was now looking at Daryl's face. Rick just wanted to bury himself back in Daryl's shoulder; he didn't want to see the anger in Daryl's face when he inevitably had to tell Daryl the story. All he could do was nod his head in reply to Daryl's question and just look down into his lap; he couldn't bear to see Daryl angry.

"Hey Rick what's up, is Carl okay?" Daryl asked him placing a hand under his chin to make him look back at him but Rick just looked back down, not able to look him in the eye.

"It's all my fault" Rick blurted out pushing Daryl's hand away, bringing his legs to his chest and pulling himself into a tight ball. Tears started to fall down his face again as the memory started to play in his mind.

"What's your fault Rick…..? What happened?" Daryl asked and he felt arms wrap around him pulling him into Daryl's chest and Rick wanted to pull away again. He didn't deserve this comfort and felt guilty when he couldn't find it in him to pull away.

"I… We saw a deer…. And Shane went to shoot it… but I could see that Carl wanted to get closer to the deer so I stopped Shane, b-but then when Carl got closer… h-he he got sh-shot. It's all my fault" He told Daryl burying himself in Daryl's Chest gripping hold of his t-shirt and crying into his partners chest waiting for the moment he was shoved away. How could anyone be with someone that was the reason a kid got shot? He didn't deserve Daryl so he was going to cherish the few seconds he had left before Daryl got over his shock and pulled him away for good.

**Notes: **I am sooo sorry for the long update but I had a block on where I wanted this story to go. I have a plan now and I'm going to try and go between all my stories now. I don't like it myself when I see stories only half done and never got back to so don't worry all my stories will get finished.

Sorry again for the long wait I'll try to make sure it's not so long next time. Let me know what you think.


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